Oak Park, IL Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Section 7-7-13, Temporary Signs, sets out item 6 for temporary window signs specifically. They are permitted only for a nonresidential use located in a nonresidential district, so a home in a residential district cannot rely on this category. The coverage cap is 25 percent of the window area, and the code defines window area as a continuous surface until it is divided by an architectural or structural element; mullions do not count as a dividing element, so a window with only mullions between panes is still measured as one continuous surface for the 25 percent calculation.

A sign attached to, placed upon, or printed on the interior of a window or door and intended to be viewed from the exterior counts as a temporary window sign under this section. Unlike most other temporary sign categories in the same article, temporary window signs do not require a sign permit at all, but they carry a firm 30-day time limit on display. The article also separately allows temporary solid window coverings meant to block interior construction activity from view; if a sign is printed on, affixed to, in contact with, or etched onto such a covering and intended for exterior viewing, that covering is subject to the same 25 percent window area cap as any other temporary window sign.

Electronic display screens used as window signs are folded into this same 25 percent cap under § 7-7-16C1, so a business combining a static paper sign with an electronic display screen must keep the combined coverage within the limit.